Christopher Michael Heaphy, Ph.D.

Research Interests

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Background

Dr. Christopher Heaphy is an Assistant Professor of Pathology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. His research focuses on basic and translational studies to elucidate the role of telomere alterations in the initiation of human diseases, particularly cancer.

His team's current projects include assessing the translational potential of telomere length measurements.

Dr. Heaphy received his Ph.D. from the University of New Mexico and did his postdoctoral training at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Departments / Divisions

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Education

Degrees

Additional Training

Postdoctoral Fellowship - Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (2008-2013)

Research & Publications

Research Summary

The overall research goal of Dr. Heaphy's laboratory is to further understand the contribution of telomere biology in cancer development and progression.

For a variety of human cancers (e.g., prostate, breast, ovarian, brain, pancreas), new molecular biomarkers are urgently needed for improving risk assessment and for accurate prognostication of the disease to improve upon current prevention and treatment strategies. One molecular marker that may address these clinical problems is tissue-based telomere length measurements.

Telomeres are nucleoprotein complexes that function to protect and stabilize the chromosomal ends by preventing chromosome fusions, masking inappropriate double-strand DNA break damage signals, and inhibiting exonucleolytic degradation. In addition to assessing the translational potential of telomere length measurements, his laboratory is working to elucidate the underlying mechanisms of tumor initiation and progression (e.g., through telomere length alterations), as well as understanding how the interactions between the tumor and its tissue microenvironment may facilitate this process.